Draco's Cousin
by I love Neville
Summary: Not slash. A 13 year old named Hannah goes to Hogwarts as a first year. She is Draco's cousin, Bellatrix's neice and...Neville Longbottom's best friend? My first story, so be nice. I want reveiws. Finished. It is slanted in odd palces. Why? I don't know.
1. The Train

Draco's Cousin

"God, I hate your name." My cousin's drawling voice said, "_Hannah_. Only a Muggle and a Squib could choose that name. It's like that scaredy-cat Abbott's name. 'Oh, perhaps Sirius Black has turned into shrubbery! Oh no!' Hannah. UGH! Auntie Bella hates that name too." he added, as if Auntie Bella's opinion ruled out anyone liking the name Hannah.

"Good for Auntie Bella," I replied cooly, "because I heard she's doing very well. She has a really nice view of the lake from her cell in Azkaban, does she? That's what _I_ heard, Draco."

"Do NOT tell me you sympathize with_ LONGBOTTOM!_" he laughed, slopping butterbeer down his Muggle T-shirt, "He's the stupidest, ugliest, most idiotic dolt in our whole year, probably the whole school!"

"I thought that was Crabbe." I said, striding past him, "Or is it Goyle?"

"Shut up, you little Mudblood." he called carelessly.

I took out my wand, pushed it into his throat and, chest heaving, whispered,"Don't .. call... me..a ...Mudblood."

He gulped and, having had experienced my power as toddlers _without_ a wand or any control, squeaked "Sorry!"

"You'd better be," I muttered, but it was an empty threat. Draco knew that too. I had great magical power, but I had never hurt him with it.

Despite our differences, we loved each other like brother and sister.

Sure, I hated his cracks about Muggle-borns, his abuse to Dobby, our house-elf, how he called me a Mudblood sometimes and his jokes about Aunt Bellatrix's victims, but he was always nice to me, (other than the name-calling) despite my parent's being a Muggle and a Squib and HIS family being "pure-blood". The reason I'm with Draco and my aunt and uncle is that, like Neville Longbottom's parents, my parents were also victims of Auntie Bella, for supporting Dumbldore, although my parents are dead, whereas Neville's parents are insane.

"Now, now," my uncle's cold voice said, cutting off my stream of thoughts, "I would prefer it if you didn't mention your aunt upon the train, is that clear? Or, for good measure, the moment we get through platform 9and 3/2, Auntie Bellatrix is wiped from our minds."

"Yes, Uncle." I sighed, "Sorry."

Soon we were on the train, Draco's eagle owl screeching along with my kitten, Oliver, making an ear-splitting song.

"Oh Dra-co!" a deep voice called happily, adding to the noise, "let's find a compartment together so we can-" the girl stopped talking and fixed her eyes on me. "Who's this?" she asked sharply.

"Er, Pansy, this is Hannah Malfoy, my cousin. Hannah, this is my girlfriend, Pansy Parkinson."

"Draco come here please." Pansy beckoned. They whispered and I heard snippets like "...almost 12? Late bloomer? So what?! You're 14! She's a first year!" and "...ruin you're reputation!"

Finally, Draco said stuff like "good luck" and "hope you're in Slytherin" before leaving me to find a new seat. Oliver, my silvery-orange tabby, mewed curiously.

I tried in vein to find a seat, but everyone seemed to know that I was a Malfoy and nobody wanted to sit with a Malfoy.

I tried to think positive and say that I could finally catch up with my reading of my favorite (but forbidden,) Muggle book, "Oliver Twist." The real Oliver, holding my stuffed dragon, Dodger, who were both named after characters in the book, curled up in my lap.

I was American until I was 8, when my parents were killed, so the old English was really hard to read.

Plus, my cousin deserting me was still sinking in, stinging me more with each breath. I read on anyway.

_Chapter XXII_

THE BURGLARY

"Hallo!" cried a loud, hoarse voice, as soon as they set foot in  
the passage.

"Don't make such a row," said Sikes, bolting the door. "Show a  
glim, Toby."

"Aha! my pal!" cried the same voice. "A glim, Barney, a glim!  
Show the gentleman in, Barney; wake up first, if convenient."

The speaker appeared to throw a boot-jack,or somesuch article,  
at the person he addressed, to rouse him from his slumbers: for  
the noise of a wooden body, falling violently, was heard; andthen anindistinctmuttering,asofamanbetweensleepandawake.

That was when the letters slurred together and blurred into a blob of black ink. Thinking it was just the book, that maybe it had gotten wet or something, I started "The tales of Beedle the Bard" instead.

I read _The Tale of the Three Brothers_.

But as I read about Antioch, Cadmus and of course, the young, wise Ignotus Peverell, the letters slurred together and blurred again. That was when I realized that I was crying. "Oliver" hadn't been wet, my eyes were! As I thought about my cousin, my eyes weren't just _swimming_ in tears, they were flooding! Luckily, no one was in the compartment to see me break down.

After I had calmed down a little, aboy that seemed to be about Draco's year walked in, deep in conversation with a red-headed boy, a bushy haired girl, a tall boy with brown hair, a tall black boy and (gulp)_ Harry Potter!_


	2. The Sorting Ceremony And a Lot More!

I hid my face, knowing I looked a bit like a younger version of Auntie Bella. They were talking about a Dementor attack and how "Ron" and "Hermione" (I realized with a jolt that these were the two "Mudbloods" and "blood-traitors" whom Draco always talked about) had had a hard time finding them from the Prefect Carriage.

Then a red-headed girl who seemed like the second boy's sister asked if anyone wanted to play Gobstones. Everyone agreed except the first boy, who said, "Nah, go ahead. I want to stay here."

There was a rustling as everyone cleared out. The first boy, a cute, friendly-looking round-faced kid, scooched into the seat across from me. Oliver jumped on the table and started nuzzling him.

"Nice cat." he said, rubbing Oliver's ears.

I managed a smile and a feeble "Thanks. His name's Oliver, or Ollie. Nice er, toad."

He grinned.

"Thanks. Name's Trevor."

"Hi Trevor. I'm Hannah."

The boy chuckled. "No! My _toad's_ name's Trevor! I'm Neville Longbottom!"

"Oh. Well I'm kinda confused right no- wait, did you say you're last name's Longbottom?"

Neville's eyes widened and he sputtered, "Yeah, it is. Why?"

I quickly made up a lie to avoid him (or me) any humiliation. "My cousin told me you're in his year. Said you stink at Potions, and most everything else. Sorry, no offense."

He slackened, then grinned again. "Yeah, I was almost a Squib. They didn't think I had a drop of magical blood in me." he shrugged sheepishly.

Now when I was smiling, I meant it. "Yeah, I was one of those late bloomers. Didn't show my true potential till a little while ago. I'm almost 13. My mom was a Squib and my dad was a Muggle."

"Who's your cousin? Maybe I know him."

Choosing my words carefully, I said, "Oh, you do. You'll find out at the Sorting."

"Who are your parents?"

"Were. Who _were_ my parents. They're dead." then, throwing caution to the wind, I said, "They were killed by Bellatrix LaStrange."

"Really?"

"Yeah, they were tortured, then she let them die. I saw it happen. I was 8. It was scary. I can still remember it."

"Ho-"

"I was visiting her. Took Eric's wand. The guards came in, stunned her and all, not that she was going to kill me anyway, cause I had _'Potential.'_ They were too late. Mum and Dad were on the ground. Dead. My older brother Eric didn't turn out right. He was tortured something awful. He's, um, insane. His 16th birthday's in 3 months."

"Oh."

Neville gulped, took deep breath, waited quite a long time then said very fast, "My parents. They were tortured into insanity by Bellatrix LaStrange. That's what landed her in Azkaban. You're the first person I ever told. I think you'd understand."

"I do. More than you know. I hate her, but I'm not allowed to hate her."

He seemed a bit confused, but it looked like he'd been wanting to tell someone since he had first been able to talk. The train stopped soon after.

Neville and I said good-bye at Hagrid's booming cries of "Firs' years! Firs' years, follow me!"

The boat ride was peaceful, but freezing.

Finally. Indoors! A fire and a feast had never seemed so inviting!

We all gathered around the Sorting hat and listened to it's song, but I was too nervous to understand it. As MacBride, Susie was Sorted into Hufflepuff, I looked in the aisles for Draco or Neville. I saw both. They both gave me huge grins. Malcom, Katie was sent to Ravenclaw, then Professor McGonagall shouted "MALFOY, HANNAH!"

A ripple of applause came from Slytherin, as if they had already won me. I sat on the stool and the Sorting hat talked to me.

_Hmmm. A Malfoy, is it? So different from your cousin, I can see that, you know. I barley touched a hair on his head and I knew, Slytherin. Cunning, ambitious, secretive, scheming. But you... I'm just not sure. You don't have a bad mind, in fact, it's the best I've seen since Hermione Granger, and that's saying something. But you are kind, and you have an earthy mind, you obviously like plants. _(It was true. Dad and I had loved to garden.) _But you are very brave, spirited. You are unlike your cousin. Oh, you're cunning, and ambitious, but for different reasons. He cares for only himself._

"Liar." I murmured, "He's afraid. He doesn't want the Dark Lord to come back, not really. He just parrots Uncle Lucias."

_ Another easy decision, your uncle. As for both of your aunts, although not Andromeda. Doing a Sirius Black, are we? The only non-banished relative of the Malfoys for decades who wasn't a Slytherin will be...you. You are so smart, yet so brave! But where to put you, where to put you? Ravenclaw or Gryffindor? Both suit you so well!_

_I hope it's Gryffindor. I thought, At least I know someone there! If I can't be with Draco, I'll be with Neville. _

Finally it cried "GRYFFINDOR!"

As I got off the stool, I started scanning the sea of people for Draco. He was scowling at the hat, obviously upset. Only a few people from Gryffindor clapped, and only Hermione and Neville seemed to have any sincerity. Everyone else clapping was merely being polite. The Weasley twins looked utterly murderous, barley touching their fingers together. Many people had their faces screwed up in concentration, trying to understand why I wasn't in Slytherin. I wanted to shout that I wasn't a carbon copy of Draco, but instead I sat down next to Neville. A woman in bright pink said a speech, but I didn't care about her. I was still looking down the aisles for a single friendly face, smile, wave or wink. What I got were rude hand gestures, cracking knuckles and mouthed "You're dead meat, Malfoy."'s

When the feast began, I grabbed the steak and mashed potatoes, the corn and the chicken and the ham and the pasta and most everything else. In other words, I was hungry! I also thought that crouching over a plate was a good excuse to hide my face.

When we had stuffed ourselves silly, we all walked to the Gryffindor Common Room. A Weasley, one of the twins, said the password and we were allowed in. To my delight, Oliver was curled up by the fire in a soft looking armchair.

No one really talked to me. I was disappointed, but I had a reputation now because I was _his_ cousin, so I too must be a snobby, racist pure-blood aristocrat. That's how they saw Draco, and that's how they saw me.

Hermione came over at one point, welcomed me to Gryffindor and introduced me to Ron. I was glad to meet him, but the feeling wasn't mutual.

"So, Malfoy," he bellowed angrily when Hermione tried to introduce him to me, "what does your dear old cousin say about us? What about your aunt? Is she still trying to break out of prison?" At that point, Hermione was trying to yank Ron away, but it was too late.

"Shut UP about my aunt! She killed my parents! You think I LIKE HER?! I HATE her! I'm ashamed to be related to her! But I am! And if you treat me differently because of my cousin and aunt, then you're as bad as Draco!!!" I snuggled up in a ball. I got more sympathy after that. Ron _did _shut up and he became a friend of mine, as did Hermione, Harry Potter, Ginny, (the red-haired girl) Luna, ("Loony", a Ravenclaw) and of course, Neville. Almost all the Gryffindors liked me.

The next day, as I sat eating breakfast, the Weasley twins came up to me. I tensed up, thinking of their inhospitality and menacing looks the day before, but they wanted to apologize.

"Sorry mate!" George said cheerily.

"Yeah. We kinda figured from your whispered argument with our perfect Prefect brother, Ronnikins, that you weren't a prat like we thought you would be." Fred said seriously, trying to keep a straight face. "Although we still think your cousin's a piece of rubbish, to be blunt, or a better, more colorful name a piece of #$%*^-"

"So to recap," George interrupted, cutting Fred's colorful names short, "We just wanted to say...."

"SORRY!" both of them said together, each pointing at the other one, laughing and making faces. They crossed each others' arms in an attempt to reach my hands. I shook them, arms crossed, too.

I giggled. "It's fine" I said, "I think I'll be seeing worse prejudice then you two."

"Prejudice? I think we got another Hermione on our hands!"

"Right-o, George! This one's got a brain, she has! Don't just charging into battles willy-nilly! Shame, thought she had some hope."

"Yeah, I did too. Sad. She has Ginny's personality, with a bigger brain. Needs more fun in her life, if she's been living in Malfoy Manor !" George quipped, putting on his best snotty, conceited voice at the mention of my house.

"Oh, you're on! I bet that by the Christmas Holidays, I can invent 3 or more jokes for your shop!"

"Fine by us, right Gred?"

"Yeah Forge, we need some more ideas. Okay, deal! How 'bout, um, 10 Galleons?"

Then a girl at the at of the table named Becky Barbarossa said something about "baboon butts" for potions. She was making a "Bloodshot Bubble Beverage" that you eat to stay awake for tests and studying. The twins ran down there in the blink of an eye and asked each other if they could say "Becky Barbarossa's baboon butts for Bloodshot Bubble Beverage" 20 times fast. They both tried, and they both failed. They laughed and tried again.

"They really are something." Hermione said in disbelief, not knowing whether to laugh or to tell them off for "disrupting the peace."

"Let them be, Hermione. They're having fun, that's all! Just a bit of fun." Harry said, laughing as Fred said "Becky Barosta's booban butts for Bloodshot Booble Bavwahg!", then, shaking his head happily, started over again. "Gross ingredient, though, baboon butts."

"No grosser than sloth brains." Hermione said, barely looking over the enormous book she had just started.

It was then that I realized that Ron was staring at me. I looked behind me, but there was nothing of interest there.

"You got an apology from Fred and George!" he whispered, "I've lived with them since I was a baby and after everything they did to me, YOU get an apology?!"

"Sorry!" I squealed.

"Don't be!" he said, shaking his head, "it's a miracle!"

I really thought he was kidding, but Ginny informed me that there was a one in a million chance of getting an apology from the twins.

I walked to Defense Against the Dark Arts with a spring in my step.

The moment I got in, I saw the teacher. She was the lady in pink from the night before, so she wasn't hard to miss.

"Hello, children! I have been informed that _you_ are the first-years. Welcome to the hallowed halls of Hogwarts! Now, although historic paint covers these walls, we must preserve the positive colors, and chip away the bad, and cover the bad with a new coat." the lady said in a girlish voice, giggling.

"I wonder if the new color will be pink." a girl muttered in a collective whisper that filled the room, "I hate pink. Vile, nasty color. Just like the women wearing it."

The women's smile faltered.

"Who said that?" she asked sweetly. "Come on, tell me. It's all right. I'm your _friend_. I want to be your friend, and friendship is based on trust."

No one answered. After 20 or 30 minutes of silence, she cracked.

"WHO SAID THAT!?!?" screamed lady in pink, "WHO SAID IT?! IF SOMEONE DOES NOT CONFESS,THEN EVERYONE HERE WILL HAVE DETETION! I, DOLORES JANE UMBRIDGE COMMAND YOU! DO YOU UNDERSTAND?!"

I gulped. She saw me.

"YOU! YOU DID IT! YOU SAID IT! IT WAS _YOU!!!!" _

"No! It wasn't! I didn't do it!"

But she was beyond listening.

"DETENTION, 8:00! 2 WEEKS TIME! NO EXCUSES!"

Soon, (too soon), I was sitting in a room, in detention for the first time.

"You will be writing 'I must be more like Draco' until the you know the message_ like the back of your hand_." she said gleefully, handing me a black quill.

As I wrote, blood spurted from my hand, trickling down my wrist. I must be more like Draco. I must be more like Draco. I must be more like Draco. I must be more like Draco. I must be more like Draco. I must be more like Draco. I must be more like Draco. I must be more like Draco.

I was in a lot of pain. I cried and stopped writing, but she made me go on. At one point, I tried to write Umbridge is a git, (better message to have carved on one's hand), but it forced me to write the first message, and it added I am a git. As if it had a brain and knew what I was saying about it's master. It forced me to keep writing. I must be more like Draco. I am a git. I must be more like Draco. I am a git. I must be more like Draco. I am a git. I must be more like Draco. I am a git. I must be more like Draco. I am a git.

I left, hand shaking and throbbing.

"Oooo" Peeves swooped down on me. "Itty bitty firstie. What is a bitty first year doing here, I wonder....?"

"Detention." I snapped. "Go away!"

_Little Malfoy, all alone,_

_Wishes she could be back home,_

_In dead mum's or daddy's arms,_

_Away from confusing potions and charms. _

"Oh, jump in a lake," I said, flushing. I threw a book at him. My copy of _Dark Arts Spell Theory for Youngsters! (Ages 7-13) _flipped and flipped right into his chest. Poor thinking.

He pushed be over the balcony, cackling,

_Little girly, _

_Girly whirly,_

_She attacked poor Peevesy!_

_Now to show her what she's done,_

_He'll pick on some of her friends, _

_Longbottom, Granger , Potty, _

_And almost all the Weasleys! _

_HE HE!_

He grabbed Ron, who was passing by with the regular posse, (the Trio) by the scruff of his neck and dangled him over the banister.

"Ron!" Hermione shrieked, then to Peeves, she asked hotly "What's he ever done to you?"

"I'll call the Bloody Baron!" Harry threatened, as I struggled to keep hold of the stairs I was clinging so desperately onto.

"L-l-let me g-g-go P-P-P-Peeves, o-o-o-k-k-kay m-m-m-m-m-m-mate?" sputtered Ron nervously.

"Oh, boo hoo, Weaselby! I'm not afraid of you! You don't have the guts to summon the Baron!"

"Oh Bloo-dy Bar-on! Come see Peeves kill a student!" called Harry as Hermione tried to find her voice.

"Okay, okay! Sorry!" he said, letting Ron down, " Mr. Bloodiness, sir, I wasn't hurting no one! I promise! I would never hurt a _wonderful child!_ Oh, no, of course not! Children are great!" he screamed to no one in particular, almost pleading, then muttered to himself, "Crickey, they were some annoying kids!"

"GUYS! HELP!" I bellowed, holding on with my good hand.

"HANNAH?!?" they all called when they saw me. That was when my grip failed me. I slipped as easily as an ice-cube on marble. I screamed. My friends stood there, watching me fall until I shrieked "HELLO? FALLING TO MY DEATH HERE!!!!"

_ Well, that got them moving. _

_They scrambled down the stairs as fast as they could go, but I was faster._

Then I saw a familiar figure on the stairs.

"Neville! Help!"

He sprinted down the stairs to get to me, but I fell through a trick stair and kept going, faster than ever. He tripped, dropped his wand and joined me, and we were both falling.

He held onto a rail and let me climb up him, onto the stairs. He slipped, and I tried to pull him up, but I couldn't keep hold. We were falling. Again. Great.

Suddenly, a sharp voice cut through the air.

"_Wingardium Leviosa!" _It was Professor McGonagall. She did another spell that delivered us safely to the ground.

"WHAT HAPPENED!?" she asked angrily.

"Peeves pushed me, ma'am. Neville was trying to help me!"

She softened.

"Did you say that Peeves _pushed_ you?"

"Yes, Professor, I did."

"He's getting out of control. You could have been killed! I must inform the Headmaster at once! And Longbottom!" she added sharply.

Neville cowered under McGonagall's gaze and simpered "Yes?"

"Good job. Very chivalrous, very brave. Your grandmother will be informed." then she strode off in the direction of Dumbledore.

"Blimey, Gran might be proud of me for once!" Neville gushed.

"First and last time, Longbottom!_ Now get out of my way_! I want to see Hannah! MOVE!" my cousin was pushing people out of the way to reach me.

_ "You okay? Are you hurt? Dizzy? Nauseous? Hungry? Scared? Anything?" he added, as if trying to find something wrong with me._

"A little shaken, that's all." I said, hobbling onto my feet. Draco helped me up, then led me through the crowd. He moved very quickly, his hand squeezing hard onto my shoulder, almost hurting me. Neville ran up panting, and gasped "Hannah,areyouokay?Areyouhurtoranything? DoyouneedtogototheHospitalWing? You'retough,butthatwassomefall! I'lltakeyou,ifyouwant."

"What?" I asked.

"Hannah, are you okay?Are you hurt or anything? Do you need to go to the Hospital Wing? You're tough, but that was some fall! I'll take you, if you want." he repeated, catching his breath.

"That's a _very_ tempting offer, but as you know, _I _am already escorting her. Aren't I?" asked Draco sarcastically.

"Oh, okay. Sorry, er, Draco? Can I call you Draco? I mean, since Hannah and I are friends, I don't want to call you 'Malfoy' anymore." he asked, putting his hand on my shoulder to steady himself.

"_Don't touch her!_" screeched my cousin, looking quite deranged, "_Don't you dare touch her! Don't you dare get your blood-traitor slime on her!_"

"Draco!" I yelled, my eyes widening, "It's fine! I don't care! Okay! I'm fine!"

But it was too late. Crabbe and Goyle, my cousin's personal bodyguards, had smelled trouble and had ran to his aid, cracking their knuckles angrily.

"I-I've taken you b-both be-f-fore, I c-can do it again! R-r-remember, f-first year?" Neville squeaked.

_ Crabbe chuckled. "Didn't you end up out cold for two days?" he asked in his oddly soft voice. _

_Draco lunged, Crabbe and Goyle following immediately. Neville looked quite pathetic, to tell you the truth, a chubby boy standing there with no wand as two guys with pumped muscles and a skinny, athletic boy with a wand ran at him._

"STOP! STOP, STOP, STOP, STOP, STOP! STOP!!!" I screamed, watching my two favorite people in the world kill each other. The dust cleared and Draco came out with a bloody nose and a black eye, Neville was unconscious in Goyle's tree-trunk arms. He was bloodied up pretty bad. I felt really guilty, but I thought the goons were done with him. Of course, poor Neville had to endure more pain and humiliation, why not?

Goyle held him over the balcony, and Crabbe's fists flew at him. Horrified, I realized that these creeps were aiming to _kill_!

"I-I_ Sectumsempra!_" I screamed, using the first spell I thought of. Uncle Lucius and Snape told me about it once. I was only supposed to use it emergencies. This definitely qualified. Neither Goyle nor Crabbe got more then a light scratch in their hide-like skin.

"That the best you got, lover-girl?" Crabbe asked throatily, and Goyle dropped Neville.

"Neville!" I shrieked. Then Goyle grabbed my hands, yanked them behind by back, ("Sorry" he muttered) and let Crabbe mangle me.

As I blacked out, I heard a yell of "Oh my GOD! It's Neville Longbottom! Is he....dead!?" My heart dropped into my stomach. Then my cousin shrieking "STOP! DON'T HURT HER!" and an awful realization came over me. Draco had no control over these two. I felt my head tip backwards, a cry of "What are you two playing at?! Don't _drop her_!!!" and a rush of air as I fell.

Then pitch black.

* * *

I woke up a month later in the hospital wing. I had had a bad concussion, a broken nose and somehow my rib cages and other random bones had disappeared. After Madam Pomfrey explained everything to me, I asked about Neville. She looked at me with sympathy, but didn't answer.

It was worse than Chinese Water torture, perhaps worse than the Cruciatus Curse, waiting for news on my friend. When the Weasley twins came to visit me, they filled me in. Neville was fine. There was another Neville in the Hospital Wing, (spelled "Nevil") who wasn't doing so well. The poor guy was bitten by a snake. Ouch.

The Weasley twins also showed me a present that wasn't "sanitary" enough for the Hospital. A basket filled with four squirming, enchanted stuffed kittens from the Quidditch team, (they weren't really alive, but they might as well have been) and a Butterbeer bottlecap necklace from Luna Lovegood, an odd friend of some friends. Then, after giving me his most roughish, puppy-dog-like lopsided grin, Fred told me I was 13. I had missed my birthday by a day. "We got you _kittens_." he said weakly.

"Thanks." I stared at the kittens. One girl, three boys. "Judging by looks and personality, that's Rum Tum Tugger, that's Skimbleshanks, that's Mungojerry and that" I said, thinking of a female cat from the musical_ CATS _(I love that show) than Grizabella. Mungojerry and the girl looked alike, and since Rumpelteaser, his partner, was sometimes a girl, I decided on Rumpelteaser.

"What?" asked the twins in unison,

"It's a Muggle thing."

A day later, Draco came in with a sulking Pansy in tow.

"Here!" she said, throwing me a pack of Special Edition, Bogey Only Flavored Bertie Bott's Every Flavored Beans. I vowed to throw them away as soon as they left.

"Thanks a lot."

"Here's my present!" cried Draco happily. I narrowed my eyes. (I was, obviously, still angry about Neville and I.) He gulped.

"A brand, new....BROOM!!!" he said, handing me a Firebolt. I was impressed. But I was still angry.

Neville came in last. Supposedly he had been coming in everyday, but Madam Pomfrey kicked him out. "He spent to much time _here_ when he could have been studying," or so the nurse says.

He handed me a Muggle messenger bag. It was really cute, with little owls all over it, and it looked pretty expensive. (Vera Bradly? How much is Neville's allowance? No, seriously, how much?) Then I realized that he had put a charm on it so that it would hold anything I needed and still feel light. He shrugged and told me that Hermione had helped a lot, but it was still sweet.

I fell asleep in the hospital.

I dreamed of, er, something......personal.

I got out the next day. There was a huge party. Fred and George had gotten 28 courses, not including the 10 starers or 12 desserts, from Dobby, Winkey and all the other house-elves.

It was a big party. All for me. I _loved _it. It was like an enormous Bat Mitzvah!

Everyone was having a good time, but we got too loud, and Professor McGonagall yelling at you would put a damper to _any_ party. Believe me, I'd know. It even scares the twins. And that's hard to do. Fred and George are like Hippogriffs. NOTHING SCARES THEM. Except Professor McGonagall's yelling.

D.A.D.A. was really boring. It was stupid. It was.......pointless! I mean, we could learn about why Stunning spells can knock you out from the name of the spell. DUH! And yes, the Jelly-Leg Jinx made your legs about as sturdy as, well, jelly. We don't need an whole chapter on either one! Ugh. I hated the girly voice, pink clothes, kitten-obsession, (they're cute, but c'mon! Move on with your life already!) and cold, bright blue eyes, so similar to Dumbledore's, yet so different, of my Defense Against the Dark Arts' teacher. So when Neville informed me of a Hogsmeade meeting (the teachers allowed me to go because I was 13) about a new curriculum for this particular subject, I jumped at the opportunity. I told him that I was going for sure. And we did.

And guess what? Harry's the teacher! Wow, he was a _good_ teacher too. The first lesson was a bit of a Meet N' Greet thing, if you know what I mean. Next lesson was on simple spells. We were let out two by two as not to arise suspicion from Filch or Mrs. Norris. Neville and I were let out dead last. We took a wrong turn and ended up in a passage we had never found. Fearing another Fluffy, we stayed outside. But when Filch close in rasping "Thank you my darling. Oh, we'll get those awful brats this time my darling Mrs. Norris, I know we will.", we decided that a monster was preferable to Filch. It turned out to be a cold, cramped Muggle-like broom closet. Neville and I squished in between the Shooting Stars and Quidditch robes.

I was terrified. He kept rattling around the closets, whispering "Where are you? Argus Filch won't rest until he finds you! Dolores might even give me a raise." and stuff like that. He started peeking around our closet. I grabbed Neville's hand and squeezed hard. Then I blushed furiously, looked away and let go sharply. I trembled and screwed up my face in anticipation. Finally, he left. Neville and I ran for it. When we reached the Fat Lady, we were so tired that it took 5 minutes for us to recover before screaming "Rebel phoenix!" She admitted us in and we were greeted by very stony, grim faces. The frowns cracked into grins and someone said "We thought you lot had gotten caught! That, or the two of you were snogging in some dark corner.

"EWWW! He's 15! I'm two years younger! We're _friends_!" I said blushing tomato-red. "Although we _were _in a dark corner."

We recounted how Filch knew exactly where we were. Creepy! Huh? The grins turned back to frowns and we vowed to be more careful.

Then everyone filed out and went to bed.

Then I realized something.

I was in love with Neville Longbottom.

Draco was gonna kill me.

* * * * * * * * * * * * A few weeks later, Neville came over to Hermione as I was crunching my buttered toast and eggs. He mouthed "Follow me" and ran out of the hall. Puzzled, I followed them.

Rubbing his neck nervously, he said, "There's a girl" (my stomach flip-flopped. I was happy for him, but I loved him) "in the D.A., you know Dumbledore's Army, our organization."

"No offense, Neville, but I'm not an idiot. I know what the D.A. is. Plus, Umbridge's spys could be anywhere. Don't talk about the D.A.! Now who is it?"

"Er, her name is, uh...Hannah. Should I ask her?"

_YES! Ask me!_

"OF COURSE!" Hermione squealed, "How else will you know if she likes you?"

_I __**do**__ like you. ASK ME!_

"Okay, thanks."

_YYYEEESSS! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!_

I ran back to the table, ecstatic.

"Hey, Hannah!" called Neville.

"Yes?" I asked sweetly, closing my eyes. Another girl said "Yes?" too. Odd.

"Will you go on a date with me?"

"YES!" I murmured.

I opened my eyes. Neville was talking to Hannah, alright. Hannah_ Abbott._ Ron's fork was halfway between his laughing face, his kippers dangling dangerously at the end of the table. Harry was snorting into his porridge. The twins, whom I had schemed with many times, looked horrified, as if they had just heard something they would have rather forgotten. Hermione and Ginny looked sympathetic. The girls on the Quidditch team, Angelina Johnson, Katie Bell and the rest, looked from Neville, to Hannah, to me, and back. Draco, who had been passing by, stopped dead. Then he grabbed me by the ear, so hard that my head jerked back and I threw up all over myself, and led me away. "Get moving, you little Mudblood." he seethed as I struggled. The effect was instantaneous. It was if I had never said anything odd at all. All the Gryffindors had their wands pulled out at Draco. Hannah Abbott and Neville grabbed their wands as well.

"Get away from her!" cried Neville.

"Leave her alone!" snarled Fred.

"Put. Her. Down. NOW.*" said Hermione, gritting her teeth.

"Shut up, you swot."

"Get off of her!" screamed George.

"Leave her alone!" yelled Ron furiously.

"Awww, nurturing a crush, Weasel? Sorry, she fancies Longbottom."

I blushed, but kept struggling. Neville lowered his wand slightly, but he was still protecting me. That was something, right?

"Let...her...go...you...DWEEB!" grunted...someone.

Ron laughed. "Yeah, you,(_pft), DWEEB_!"

Draco must have thought this guy was bigger than his bodyguards, because he ran.

He dropped me and I turned to face my knight in shining armor........GOYLE!?

"Will...you...go...on...a date...with...me?"

The danger gone, everyone laughed at the awkwardness of my situation. Feeling like I was going to puke again at any second, sick all over my robes, blushing blood-red, my crush on Neville revealed, my ear aching, Neville probably hating me and a guy who had beat me up asking me for a date. "No, Goy- Gregory, I'm sorry." Then I ran into the girl's bathroom.

I started to cry in there. Then two girls came in. They opened my stall and smiled sadly.

"Hey." said Hermione. "How're you doing?"

"Okay, I guess. For what just happened, I'm probably lucky." I sniffed, then hiccuped.

"You know, bathrooms aren't good places for girls to cry at Hogwarts. I got attacked by a troll in this very stall, first year."

"I was possessed by Tom Riddle in the Common Room, but I tried to get rid of his diary in a bathroom, too. I was, of course, crying. The opening to the Chamber of Secrets was in a bathroom." said Ginny.

"Oh, and Moaning Myrtle died crying. In a bathroom, of course." laughed Hermione.

"Why?" moaned a dismal voice, "Why is that funny?"

"It isn't." said Hermione wearily.

"Then why did you laugh?" asked Myrtle.

"Because we have more than one emotion!" said Ginny hotly. "And we use more than one!"

"You only need one though!" cried Myrtle's weepy voice, "If you only have one, dread, it gives you whole bathroom. All to yourself. HA!"

"Oh, go tell someone who cares!" cried Ginny angrily. "This isn't even your bathroom!"

She screeched. Her screams sounded like someone scratching a blackboard. She flew into a toilet. I laughed.

"Wait, what about Neville?" I said nervously, "Are we still...friends?"

"Uh, I don't know. He _was _trying to impress her, Hannah, when you had your whole show. I really don't know."

If Hermione didn't know, no one did.

* * *

Neville was certainly colder to me than usual. His date hadn't gone badly, (they even kissed a bit) but he was still embarrassed. I don't blame him. If your friend had shown up covered in puke while you were "wooing" a girl, YOU'ED be angry too. But, still, it wasn't _my_ fault! It wasn't fair.

I kept my distance from him. I seriously thought he might sprout fangs and attack me at any minute. I was suddenly afraid of the two people I trusted most in the world. Draco kept scowling at me, giving me looks like the Muggle bullies at my old schools, looks that said: _Meet me by the dumpster after class. If you do, you're dead. If you don't, well, you're still dead._ He tried to hurt me a few times, too. It didn't help that Herbology was one of my strong points; being compared to Neville by Professor Sprout was almost unbearable.

One day, near Christmas break, I decided to talk to him. I waited for him at Transfiguration, narrowly escaping Umbridge and Filch. They were bickering about where to put Rule #234390787, or some huge number like that. Umbridge finally, (of course), got her way, and they walked along. The bell rang, and the moment I saw his face, I walked in front of him.

"Hannah." he said curtly, in a bored tone.

"Er, Neville, can we talk?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because." he said, striding past me.

"What's wrong? You won't talk to me! You won't even _look_ at me! I'm going crazy! Now tell me. WHAT'S WRONG?"

"No."

"I miss you! Draco keeps trying to beat me up, Hermione is nice, but boring, Harry and Ron are........ Harry and Ron, Ginny is stubborn, Fred and George think I'm a nervous wreck and Luna doesn't get it. And on top of it all, Goyle keeps asking for a date!"

"You seem to be doing fine. You could still produce a Patronus, last D.A. meeting you did it, without me."

"My memory was on the train with you!"

"I don't care, frankly."

"You're just like my cousin!"

At that, he stopped dead, just short of the door, and wheeled around.

"I'm not like Draco!"

"Yes, you are. You didn't care about me. I told you about my parents, being killed by my own aunt, and you just abandoned me! I don't CARE if no-one's extra nice to you, but we have something in common, and you don't even care!"

"Yeah, gotten a letter from her yet? How's she doing?"

What are you blabbering on about?" I asked, my face shining with tears.

"Like you don't know!" He stuffed a _Daily Prophet_ article in my face. The front said: Deadly Witches and Wizards About. If Found or Seen, Report to Ministry IMEDDIATALY!

"No..." I said, staring at a moving photo, "No... she can't be out! No, no, no, no, no, no!"

My aunt's face glared up at me.

"You don't get the _Daily Prophet_, do you?" he asked softly.

"I didn't know! She'll kill me! She'll Crucio me first, like she did when I was 8, except this time, she'll kill me after! She said to my parents, she said, 'A good dose of pain for the girl should do it!'"

"She, did the Cruciatus on you?"

"Yeah."

We skipped class and talked by the lake. We got blood-quill lines, but we were smiling at each other the whole time.

* * *

The next day, Hannah Abbott came up to me and said, "How do I look?"

"Great. You- you and Neville make a cute couple, you really do. Sorry about, you know."

"Oh, it's fine."

It was a Hogsmeade weekend, and everyone filed out of the school happily. The twins and I went to Zonkos, where I showed them my newest creations. There was a pen that wouldn't stop writing on you, a Galleon that disappeared whenever the user needed it, another Galleon that reappeared ten minutes after you spent it, a club that kept hitting the victim over the head and green slime that got into your hair and other places the moment you touched it.

Then we went to Honeydukes, where only I could finish the Blood Pops that the three of us tried for a bet. (I got 20 Galleons, for the twins were doing well.)

Then after a slab of chocolate, we went back to school.

Neville and Hannah broke up, but they're still friends. I was secretly glad.

Christmas was fun. I would have seen Eric, but he was doing better and now he went back downhill. Healers didn't want me around. I was almost by myself, but the Canary Creams from the year previous were back, and people kept turning into birds this way and that. Professor McGonagall thought it was a really nifty piece of magic, and spent 30 whole Galleons on them. She also confiscated many of my things saying "Miss Malfoy! These are impressive, but very unpractical and cruel. And the Galleon that whizzes strait back into your pocket is illegal! I'm sorry, but I am obliged to take these away. Good day!" But I could have sworn I saw her wink.

The D.A. was discovered by Umbridge and my own cousin, then punished horribly. Dumbledore had to flee from the Ministry of Magic, leaving us at the mercy of Umbridge, the demon in pink. Then everything changed.

The twins embarrassed Umbridge, ruined the O.W.L.s and flew off into the sunset, throwing fireworks behind them. They screamed to Peeves "Give her hell from us!", and get this... he saluted them and listened! It was awesome. I was seriously tempted to "Do a Weasley" and follow suit.

A few weeks later, the trio was going to London. Luna, Neville Ginny and I were distracting Umbridge and the rest, but everyone got caught. Draco dragged Neville and I away, locking me in the closet.

At one point, I was let out for air. Ron asked me if I had any sweets, and I knew what he meant. The Slytherins dove for the candy. Soon they were fainting, puking and bleeding through their noses quite thick, strong and violently. We got away.

Harry and everyone else had a heated conversation about if we all should go. Harry finally agreed when I promised that I wouldn't go with.

My fingers hurt from being crossed throughout the whole conversation.

* * * * * * * * * * * * It was an odd feeling. I knew that the Muggles, along with many of my friends couldn't see him, yet I saw a living, breathing, skeletal horse with long, wide wings. I kept a distance, but when they landed, so did I. Yelling ensued, along with a head shake from Hermione and an uttered, drawn out curse from Ron and a sigh from Neville. Finally, we realized we were running out of time and ran. We went through a ton of different doors. Each one was interesting, but many were creepy. I hated the one with the brains the most. They were all slimy and whitish, and the whole point that the Ministry had brains, _human brains_, in jars, is, disconcerting, suspicious, and disturbing. I was hating the Ministry more and more.

We raced to the Department of Mysteries, then to the door Harry remembered. I didn't know what we were in there for, but it obviously wasn't there. Then Uncle Lucias came into view. His eyes lingered on me, then he started to threaten Harry. Auntie Bella appeared out of the shadows and I felt Neville tense up next to me. I grabbed him so he wouldn't spring out at her.

Then she started taunting him and I let go. I didn't care if he sprang up at her now. Fighting inevitably ensued. We ran around like chickens, with no goal other than "Stay alive for 5 more minutes. 10 more minutes. 15 more minutes...." I knocked into a Death Eater at one point. I ran fast, but it wasn't fast enough. Then he said "Hannah?"

"Uncle Rudolph?" It was Uncle Ruldolphus! He was my favorite family. He was funny, interesting and caring. The only reason he was a Death Eater is because of Bellatrix; he loved her so much that he turned bad.

I loved him. He wouldn't mind that I liked Neville. He would be proud! He was a Half-blood, (Bellatrix obviously didn't know) and he wouldn't care if I _did _like a Blood traitor.

We talked for a moment, then sensing danger, drew out our wands and stood back to back.

Then a below sliced the silence like a knife. "AVADA KEDAVRA!"

And my Uncle fell.

It was in slow motion, like a movie played over and over again.

"NO! NO! RUDOLPH! NO!"

I still don't know who did it. Maybe someone thought he was hurting me and fired the first thing they thought of. Maybe a Death Eater was aiming for me. Who knows?

Needless to say, Neville was disconcerted to find me sobbing over a Death Eater's body.

"Um, should I ask?"

"No! Uncle Rudolph! No! No...no....please. Please, no. PLEASE!"

"Hannah! Pull yourself together! You're in a war, family's gonna die!"

I clung to his cold, un-beating chest. "No."

He dragged me away.

My senses came flooding back when I saw Ron. Was he...smiling?

"What's (hic) wrong with (hic) Ron?(sniff)"

"Oh, Han, good, you're okay. Now, er, we have no idea what hit him, but he's gone loopy." said Neville.

"Well, he's (hic) happy."

"I see Uranus!" he shrieked, upon seen a model of the planets. "Wanna see Uranus, Luna?"

"And people think _I'm_ loony." said Luna happily.

"I'm going. (hic)"

I ran around and found my aunt. Everyone had joined the battle again, except Ron (for obvious reasons) and Hermione, as she was out cold.

I saw her aiming at-who else?- Neville. "Crucio." she whispered, and I ran in front of the purplish light. I felt the same sensation that I felt at 8 years old. Pain beyond pain. The very fiber of each of your ribosomes, in every cells on fire, screaming out to you to stop. No one noticed the writhing girl on the ground. Auntie Bella waited for me to get up. "Pity," she simpered, "so much potential, all gone to waste!"

"No. You were the one with potential. Uncle Rudolph's dead, Bella. You're digging yourself into a hole, and you won't find gold in there. You're digging your own grave."

"Why don't you like this side, Hannah? The Dark Lord _will _rise again. And I will be at his side, his lover, his right-hand woman."

"_That's_ why! Auntie Bella, listen to yourself! Uncle Rudolph-your _husband_- just died and you're thinking about who to love next. If it really _is_ love. You and Voldemort don't have love! You just have a sick obsession with a snake!" Her eyes bulged and widened dangerously, but I didn't care. I had to stand up for myself. For Uncle Rudolph. For Neville. "Well that's what he is! A snake with no feelings. He doesn't know love. He _can't_ love. So, sorry. You're out of luck. The closest he has and ever will come to love is with his big snake, Nagini. And that's just 'cause he can speak to her and control her!"

"AVADA KED-" she screamed, but was interrupted by either Dolohov or Avery's shout of "Bella! Guess who we gots? We gots a little Longbottom here! Come quick, he's pretty strong!"

Then I heard a loud, sickening _CRUNCH!_

"Geb ov be! Geb ov be! Leb be go!"

"Stop struggling kid! You already got a broke nose! Want some more? 'Cause I'd be happy to oblige."

I heard another crash and a different voice say "Keep him alive! Bella wants to finish him off!"

"NEVILLE!" I ran like crazy.

"That's why." said Bella.

"STUPEFY!"

I froze.

"PETRIFICUS TOTALUS!"

My arms an legs sprang together and I fell to the ground.

Auntie Bella kicked me. I hated it. I couldn't do anything to defend myself.

"Really? A fat, stupid Longbottom? You're so pretty, you could have gotten someone so much better. Cuter. On the right team."

I heard different parts of the fight, including Uncle Lucius saying something like "Longbottom? But your Grandmother is used to losing people to the cause, your death won't come as a surprise to her."

At that, I broke free of the curse. But someone grabbed the neck of my robes.

"LET ME GO!!! LET ME GO!!! I DON'T CARE WHO YOU ARE, I'LL CURSE YOU TO- TO- TO...."

"Karpsner?" asked Luna's soft voice, "That's where the Nargles are from and where the Specter Specs were invented to catch all the Wrakspurts floating around."

"SURE, NOW LET ME GO!!! I WANT TO KILL HER! I'LL BE THE DEATH OF HER, I SWEAR!"

"Oh no, she's too strong. Neville Longbottom might be in trouble, don't you think?"

"Yes, I do! That's why I want to kill her! That, and she killed my parents and tortured my brother! Oh, did I mention she's my aunt?"

I turned a shade of pink that Umbridge would be thrilled to wear.

"It's okay. I won't tell. Take this. It keeps away the Nargles." She pulled off her necklace. "And the Wrakspurts. You don't want to be distracted, we're in a battle."

I felt like saying _Are we in a battle? I hadn't noticed. _or_ Distracted? You're one to talk! Do you even know where we are? _I like Luna, but I was angry. But I said "Thanks." instead.

"Ronald needs help. He's being strangled by brains."

"Where?"

"5 doors to the left."

I ran to the brain room, trying not to think about Neville. What I saw washed Neville out of my mind.

Ron's face was purple, contrasting to the orange tangle of his hair. He was screaming "Get it off! Get it off! I don't like it! It's weird! It isn't funny anymore!" Well, actually, he was gasping it. He couldn't breathe. There was still a calm smile on his lips, which were turning blue. His eyes were empty, like a dead body's, not really seeing anything. I went to pull them off, but they came at me too. I tried to get them away from Ron and I, but they tied me up. I couldn't move or breathe. I tried to shriek, but the nerves were too tight around my body. I was about to go black when I did the stupidest thing in my life.

I bit the brain.

It worked. It recoiled and slunk away, going back to the jars. Ron seemed okay; he wasn't dead, for one thing.

"I've had the pleasure of meeting your parents, boy!" Auntie Bella's voice carried,

"I DOE YOU HAB!"

I ran to my friends, but I couldn't find them. I didn't know if Neville, Harry, Ginny or Luna were still fighting, or even still alive. I tried not to think of that, but with my Aunt and possibly even Voldemort himself in battle... At one point I saw Luna and Ginny, bloody and cold, back to back, trying to keep from passing out.

Ginny's eyes rolled to the back of her head. Then she glanced at me and croaked "Is...Ron.. ... okay? Is he...being... strangled? Is...he...loopy? Is...he...dead?"

"No, he isn't dead. I got the brains off of him. I think he's still loopy, maybe passed out, but definitely alive."

She smiled and slumped over. Then Luna asked "Did the c-c-charm help? Were you distracted-d-d?"

"No, the charm helped a lot. Thanks Luna. Where's Neville? And Harry?" She smiled and was about to answer, when her head drooped onto her shoulder. I moved them into the one room without dangerous stuff. All it had was potions.

I heard Harry's cry of "SIRIUS, NO! _Sirius! SIRIUS!!!_"

"Aww, did de wittle baby Potter love him? Did you _love_ him Potter?!" screeched Auntie Bella.

I couldn't hear the rest of the fight for it the people went away, but I knew one thing. Sirius Black was dead. My banished cousin, the one the Sorting Hat had compared me to, was gone forever. I had never met him, and I never would. I wanted to meet him, to talk to him, but now I couldn't. I had lost two family members today, and someone was going to pay.

I ran to a stairway near the Veil of Death, where I saw Neville's body. He was slumped onto a stair. Blood trickled onto his chin from his mouth and nose. I tried to get a pulse, but I was trembling and shaking so hard that I felt none. His breathing was slowing immensely, becoming rattly. His cheek was ice-cold, and it looked to me like he had hit his head on the stair, and had gotten a concussion.

I admit it. I sat down and sobbed. I was in full Damsel-In-Distress mode. After a few moments of crying, I tried to pick him up and take him where Ginny and Luna were. But I probably hurt him more, dragging him to a faraway door. He finally woke up, and I burst into new sobs.

"Hannah?" he asked faintly, "Han? Are you okay? What happened? My-my head's _killing_ me!" His voice was growing stronger.

"You're okay!" I sobbed. "You fell o-or something. I thought you had- I thought you were..."

"I'm okay." his voice was normal again. "Where's Harry?"

"I don't know, but you're hurt. I'm getting Ron and Hermione. Stay here. _Stay here!_" I said again as he tried to get up.

"But..."

I gave him a stern, full-out Mrs. Weasley look, and that was that.

The potion room was suddenly an infirmary. I was ripping robes to make bandages, applying ointments that I found that weren't poisonous or dangerous and doing the same with potions. There were groans and other odd noises, such as the occasional giggle from Ron, but we stayed there until a Ministry wizard found us.

I saw my Uncle's body on the ground and asked for it. The wizard exclaimed "No, child! Of course not! He was scum and will be treated as such! The world is better without him!"

"He's also my Uncle!" I replied angrily, "He was noble and you don't know a tenth of what I know about him! You don't know his life! He deserves a proper funeral, and he's going to get it!"

We had a funeral. Just me. And Neville. I couldn't believe it when he came in the small field, in Hogsmeade where he was buried and where the two of us played, donned in a suit and tie. _Bellatrix's husband_ was being buried, one of the people who had tortured his _parents_, and he still came. It meant a lot. He smiled weakly. "If he's really as great as you say," he muttered, "he deserves some respect, a good send-off. Someone other than just his niece."

"Thanks." I whispered. I wanted to say more, but I didn't want to get cheesy. He understood. He put his arm around my shoulders and let me cry into him. We lowered his body, wand, a picture of Bella (Neville scowled) and a Muggle picture book called _Good Boy, Fergus!_, by David Shannon,in with the casket. Neville looked at me quizzically, and I choked out, "He read this to me all the time when I was little. I brought it with me every time I visited him in Azkaban, and he would read happily, as if there were no Dementors around, and I knew he wasn't acting. He genuinely cared. He taught me how to read with this book. I think he would want it..." I couldn't continue.

At the end, I thanked him for wasting a Hogsmeade weekend by burying a dead man. He said it was fine. He didn't really care about Hogsmeade weekends anymore. Not many people did.

I sighed. Tomorrow I would be heading off on a train to people who may or may not want to kill me. And, despite everything, I would miss Hogwarts.

As we were packing up, Dumbledore came to the girl's dorms with Oliver trailing behind. Or at least he tried to. The stairs turned into a steep chute and he slipped down, his flyaway hair and beard rushing behind him. Oliver leaped into my arms. I had an odd urge to laugh, but first I was going to make sure my Headmaster was okay.

"Sir?" I asked tentatively, "Sir, are you okay?"

He chuckled, "Of course I am, Miss Malfoy! Just trying to get to a student!" He didn't seem even remotely hurt, on the contrary, he seemed perky and cheerful.

"Who was it?" I asked, "I can get them for you."

He looked at me seriously. "I wanted to speak to you, Miss Malfoy. You see, well, shall we go to my office?"

"If you think so, sir."

"Yes, I see it fit to talk in the privacy of my office."

We walked through the castle, watching students bustling out to the train; owls hooted happily, cats mewed and toads, lead by Trevor, sang an odd, mournful tune in chorus.

"Fizzing Whizbee! No, that was last week, Hannah, ah yes, Sugar Quills!"

The gargoyle jumped back

"Hannah." He sat down. A Phoenix flew in a dive-bomb position before settling onto my lap. "Oh, yes, this is Fawkes. Now, I wanted to talk about your uncle, aunt and great-cousin, or such. Whatever Sirius was to you. They are not wonderful family that you live with, and the two decent people in it have died. I understand that you don't want to be there. No one would. Now, you are, of course, allowed to hate them, but don't be ashamed of your bloodline. There are decent people in it. Maybe not your immediate family, but you are fond of the Weasleys, are you not? And Mr. Longbottom? "(I blushed) "Also a Nyphodora Tonks? I will try to get you somewhere else for the summer.

"That is all."

"Thank you!"

I sat with Neville on the train. Ron invited to his house, The Burrow, for the summer. Draco wasn't letting me less than twenty feet away from him, much less his house. I was glad. Aunt Narssisa would probably tell me it was all my fault that Uncle Lucias was in Azkaban.

Mrs. Weasley was ecstatic about having another guest. No one else cared much. We played Quidditch, wizard chess and made inventions for the shop. It was a summer that we wished could be a lazy, lounge-around summer, but it, of course, couldn't.

The twins were working 24/6, spending Sundays with the family. While we played Quidditch, wizard chess and made inventions, we still were on the edge of our seats whenever we heard of an attack. When we weren't freaking out, we were feeling very flat. I sometimes went to Weasley's Wizard Wheezes, and that was fun. In fact, I spent most of the summer there. I was hanging around so much, that Fred and George ("Mr. Weasley and Mr. Weasley to you, Missy!") gave me a summer job. At one point, Draco came in without his mum, free to insult me all he wanted.

"Hey, M.B." he whispered,

"What? Oh, hello Draco. What do you want? And what do you mean 'M.B.'?"

"Blimey, you are so _dumb_! M.B. means _Mudblood_!"

He laughed, then glanced at the pin on my chest that said: _Weasley's Wizard Wheezes: Where We Help Future Pranksters Achieve Their Dreams Of Chaos. _And in smaller writing, _(Cheesy, Huh?) _

"You _work _here?!" he laughed, tears streaming down his pale, pointy face, "I guess poverty wears off! How much do they pay you? A Knut a week? In 29 weeks, you'll have a Sickle! I'll bet the place only _earns_ about a Sickle a week."

"Actually, I get 20 Galleons a week."

"Big difference."

"Draco, maybe _you _can't do simple math, but even _I _know that there are 493 Knuts in _1 _Galleon, times 20 is, um, wait" I jotted the problem down on a scrap of parchment. "9860 Sickles! And that's a LOT more than you thought it was!"

"Fine. Mudblood."

"Don't _call_ me that!" I shouted, burning red.

"Mudblood, Mudblood, Mudblood!" he screeched happily in a sing-song voice,

"You little, you little, little-" I stopped because my face was in very sharp pain, covered in blood and I was a tad dizzy.

A huge fight broke out, and when I wasn't seeing blood, bruises or scabs, and when I wasn't hearing sharp cracks and sickening squelches, I noticed children's eyes being covered by horrified mothers, older kids chanting "Fight!", some kids shrieking "Stop!", and the twins, trying to remain authoritative while they were out of breath from laughing.

Then, we were dragged away from each other. I slumped on the ground, and was fed some Pepper-Up potion, while Draco dusted himself off and said in a commanding voice, "I demand a free product or I will sue. As stated in article 25.8, chapter 83, paragraph 6, line 45 of the Ministry of Magic law book, if a customer is attacked by staff, then-"

"Fine, Percy! Sheesh! Now what do you want, then?" snarled Fred.

"Peruvian Instant-Darkness Powder!" he held his hand out expectantly.

George snatched a packet and shoved it into his hand. "Here." he grunted, "Have a ball."

"Oh, I plan to."

Then the twins rounded on me.

"Look, we sympathize with you, of course, but-" said Fred,

"-We can't have you attacking customers! It's just plain rotten for business."

"I didn't start it! He called me a Mudblood, then he punched me! Owww!"

We all noticed that my pin had stabbed me a bit. Not horribly, but enough to hurt pretty badly. It had also been spilled on, and my chest was smoking from on of the numerous inventions in the shop.

"Hannah,-and small children or queasy kids and adults- close your eyes. This will look really gross, but it won't hurt her at all. I think." Fred said to the surrounding crowd.

Many girls, small children and many parents squinted their eyes shut, but almost every boy stared at my chest in wide-eyed amazement. I closed my eyes.

Fred and George muttered "Anestheticia chestius." I heard the words "anesthetic" and "chest" in the spell, so I hoped it was a pain remover.

Then I was howling in pain. Maybe the spell _was _supposed to numb pain, maybe not, but if it was, it hadn't worked. They stopped immediately and glanced nervously at each other, then said "Well, Mum already knew that we weren't great Healers, that was always her category."

I looked down and saw that my chest changed a bit. Sure it wasn't smoking, but... It was kinda...green. Green!?

"Maybe we should call Saint Mungo's now."

"Yeah, probably."

I don't remember much after that. In fact, next memory I have is 4 days later.

Everyone was crowded around the bed.

"Neville?" I murmured, "Luna? What're you doing here? And you too Hermione? And Harry?"

At that, Mrs. Weasley broke into sobs.

"Harry's not here." said Ron.

"Oh, I just figured."

"Here, sip on these." said Luna, "Freshwater plimpie soup and Gurdyroot tea. It's quite a delicious combination."

I tasted them and immediately wanted to spit them out, so I made an excuse not to eat them.

They all left soon, and I got to see Eric. He was better, when I came in he said "Haan-ah!" He was talking more and more and improving so well that it was almost alarming. I said hello to Mr. and Mrs. Longbottom, and I left the ward.

I was back at work soon, and I wasn't green anymore 2 weeks later. The shop was still fun, and occasionally I would see someone I knew. I had that Colin Creevey kid following me around like, for a week.

"Hannah, what's Harry's favorite color? Food? Drink? Potion? Teacher? Student? Subject? Ooohhh, what about the-"

"No offense, Colin, but shut up, okay? I just got out of the hospital. I'm in pain, tired, drowsy and sick. Bother someone else, please?"

"But you don't seem used to this! You have to be though, don't you? You're _Harry Potter's friend!_" he squealed.

"So are you!"

"But he knows you better!"

"Buzz off, kid!"

He literally broke down and started crying in the shop. Wasn't the kid, like, 15?

So I talked to the bawling 15-year-old as if he were 3. "Shh, I'm sorry Colin, okay? I really am! Now be quiet."

To put it bluntly, the twins were not happy.

"Why do you keep angering your customers?!"

"AARRGG! Obsessed Harry Potter fans with too much time on their hands and nothing to do but research him, _that's_ what makes me crack!**And people who call me a Mudblood!" I screamed

I spent the rest of the summer shelving things and putting up signs. Fun, huh? My favorite sign was, of course, 'Are You Worried About of You-Know-Who? You Should be Worried About U-No-Poo!..'

Going back to school was the best part of summer. (Not really summer, but still.)

At the Start of Term Feast, the new teachers were introduced, ("Professor Slughorn will be taking over Potions, and Professor Snape will be taking over D.A.D.A.")

I ran to the common room to sleep. I was tired. I went to bed. I was becoming an Animagus, and that was hard. (Cats are hard to turn into!)

The year was uneventful until the end. Hannah Abbott's mom was killed. So was Dumbledore. Dumbledore was dead. I couldn't believe it. I didn't know him personally other than that chat at the end of the year before, but he was sweet and funny and caring and almost everyone loved him. My cousin, Draco, was supposed to kill him, but he couldn't do it. (I told you he has a heart.) It was horrible, and the worst part is that that his best friend, Professor Severus Snape, killed him! We ran him out of the school pretty quickly, and thought that, considering what he had done, he wouldn't show his huge-nosed face anytime soon.

He was killed in the middle of a huge battle, students against Death Eaters, and Ron's older brother Bill, was mauled by Fenrir Grayback. He was still alive though, and his fiancée, Fleur Delecour, still wanted to marry him, much to Mrs. Weasley's dismay. Then they were suddenly sobbing in each other's arms, saying their congratulations and crying about their poor baby Bill, so badly hurt and stuff like that. Harry thinks it's a girl thing, but to this day, I _still_ don't understand it.

We had a huge, fancy funeral for Dumbledore, then all went home. I cried, but not as much as a lot of other people. Hagrid, who was sitting behind me, was so distraught that he had to be led away when the old man's body was brought up. For the rest of the service, I felt Hagrid's tears pounding onto me like heavy raindrops. I felt really bad for him. I remembered the day Uncle Rudolph died so vividly that I too started to cry.

The Hogwarts Express wasn't the same. I bought some Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans, but I had barley nibbled on one when I lost my appetite. And it was chocolate, (I think) so it wasn't because of the flavor.

I slept the rest of the way home. I was invited to the wedding, so I stayed with the Weasleys. I didn't do much. I just stayed in bed a lot. On the day of the wedding, Hermione gave me the beautiful dress that she wore to the Yule Ball.

"You keep it." she said, beaming, "It looks better on you."

"Nah, it's okay."

"No, it does! Really! Plus, it doesn't really fit me anymore."

"Okay."

I went out to the wedding and sat in a chair, awaiting the ceremony.

"Vaht." said Fleur, "Are you doing?"

"Er, sitting. I'm not family and I don't have a job. I wouldn't mind one though."

"Vell then, vet's change zat. Vould you like to make ze bouquets? Zey are not yet done."  
"Sure."

"Vould you vike to help and be a flover girl too?"

"Isn't that just for family?" I asked

"Vell, yes, but my cousin, Cosette, is very sick and she vould infect ze 'ole vedding, and zat would be terrible! My Bill and me vant an uninfected vedding, zank you very much!"

"Um, okay." I felt a bit awkward, having had never been at a wedding.

All I did was walk down the aisle and through rose petals at people, but it was supposedly really important. I waited with Ginny and Gabrielle, Fleur's sister.

They said their vows and then there was a dance. Some Weasley cousin named Junior Jr. who asked me to dance. I accepted because he was kinda cute, but he was a bit full of himself, so I just sat down and talked to Luna about Karpsner. Neville wasn't there, and I was a bit disappointed. I wouldn't have minded dancing with him; we had gotten pretty close last year.

Then a silver lynx Patronus interrupted the festivities and cried in Kingsley Shacklebolt's deep, calming voice, now so disconcerting, "The Ministry has fallen. Scrimegour is dead. They are coming."

Hermione went to grab her beaded bag, which she had charmed to hold all her stuff but feel light, but was distracted. I grabbed my own bag, with the same charm and with all my belongings, and slipped into her bag. I knew they were stopping Voldemort, and, unlike Ginny, I wasn't going to just let them go at it.

"Hmm, heaver then I thought." she muttered, then upon realizing that Ron wasn't with them screamed, "Ron! RON! _Ron! RON!_"

I fell asleep after that.


	3. Dobby

**Hey. See, I need reviews. Please review, or, (even though I really, **_**really**_** don't want to,) I may just scrap this idea. I probably won't, but REVIEW!!! ( Is that really**_** that **_**much to ask of you people?) And I'm sorry about the length of chapter 2. I had trouble downloading. It should have spanned from chapters 2-5, since on my computer it goes to page 34. **

I woke up because I heard drunk people screaming to Hermione to "Dump Ginger and have a drink or two" with them. Gross.

At Grimmauld place, I revealed myself. They couldn't send me home yet, so I stayed with them as a black cat for a few weeks, then got back to Hogwarts. The "mission" from Dumbledore wasn't so interesting. All they did is read Fairy Tales (Hermione), brood over how much food I was eating, which wasn't a lot, and yell at Hermione to get more (Ron) or act all depressed and moan day in and day out "I have to kill Voldemort! You know, I'll probably die. I'm scared." (Harry). Snape was Headmaster, and school was terrible.

Neville, Ginny, Luna, me and many other people had been starting the D.A. again. We were also used as pincushions. We were being killed by Death Eaters. Neville was running from the Carrows one day, and the Room of Requirement sprang to life. He came to the Common room a week later, scaring everyone half to death because we thought him to be dead, or in Azkaban at least. He offered protection and almost everyone excepted.

We were welcomed in with soft hammocks and warm food. The Gryffindor, Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw banners were up. There was a set of little first-year Slytherin twins with us, but the Room refused to make a banner. The girl and boy, Ella and Freddy, were really sweet, but they were pretty cunning if need be.

I sat on the hammock one day, once again reading Oliver Twist, almost done and reaching for the first A Series of Unfortunate Events, with Ollie in my lap, holding Dodger. It just felt so peaceful. Sure, we were tattered and torn, bloodied and bruised, with Death Eaters swarming the school, meeting you at every turn, in every corner, trying to break your spirit, but this was a sanctuary. As Lemony Snicket once put it, "Sanctuary... is a word which here means a small, safe place in a troubling world. Like an oasis in a vast desert or an island in a stormy sea." Well said, Mr. Snicket. That's exactly what it felt like.

We kept in touch with the _Daily Prophet_, even though the stuff it was printing these days was complete rubbish. The only things that I believed were that they looted my Uncle Rodolph's house, taking all of his possessions, and that that Stan Shunpike was, along with other Death Eaters, some of them, including Stan, not even acting of their accord, out of Azkaban. Both pieces of news left me feeling like my blood was lava, like I was going to turn Hogwarts into Pompeii, I was just so angry.

Neville and I became a couple. Everyone was pulling stunts and pranks and playing tricks, with a free supply of everything imaginable from Fred and George. We were also busy tending people's "battle scars", as we liked to call them.

The Carrows, being idiots, had no idea where we were. They asked everyone "D'ya know these kids? Where are they?" I'm surprised that Professor, sorry,_ Headmaster _Snape couldn't figure it out. I don't like him***, but you gotta admit it, he's smart.

One day, when Neville came back with food from the Hog's Head, we were surprised to see a small figure with bat-like ears and glowing, tennis-ball sized eyes with him. It wasn't Ariana. We knew her.

"Mistress! Mistress Hannah!" squeaked the small house-elf.

"Dobby?" I asked incredulously.

"Yes Mistress, yes! It _is _Dobby, Hannah Malfoy!"

"He's being cared for by Aberforth, the bartender. He heard me talking about you and said that he used to be your house-elf. That true?" laughed Neville, as he watched Dobby hugging my leg.

"Yeah! He was actually the family elf, but he liked me a lot." I pried Dobby off of me. The elf was going on about Harry Potter. He was under the impression that he knew where he was.

"Oh, Dobby, I don't know." His ears drooped. "Please don't go after him! Auntie Bella will kill you the moment she finds out. She isn't as nice as Uncle Rudolph."

"Where is Master Lastrange, Miss Malfoy?"

My eyes teared up. "He's... he's dead. He's dead Dobby."

"Oh, Miss, Dobby is sorry. Dobby has always liked Master Lastrange. Much, much more than Mistress... Mistress... LASTRANGE!!! he started to wail.

"Bad Dobby! Bad Dobby! Bad Dobby! I is speaking ill of my masters! Bad Dobby!" he shrieked. He ran at the wall headfirst multiple times, and it started to bruise and bleed a bit.

"Dobby! Dobby, stop! Please, we're not your masters anymore! Quit it! Stop hurting yourself!" I grabbed him, almost tackling him, but I don't think it did as much damage as brain trauma or death.

"I is sorry, Mistress! I is being a bad house-elf! Sorry!"

"Look." grasping his shoulders, and, shaking softly, I gave a cheesy speech, "You are a free elf. Dobby, my family and I, we're not your slave-owners anymore. They're doing okay without you. They didn't deserve you, and you were abused. You're free. You don't have to worry about us, you can call anyone in the world whatever you want, okay? Don't hurt yourself anymore, please? And what I said about Harry. You- you can go after him. Just don't run into Auntie Bella." I smiled weakly, and he gave me a huge, toothy smile.

"Yes, Mistre- Hannah. Thank you!"

"Dobby! Dobby, come here!" a voice came through the portrait, and Ariana grinned, then the voice came again, "Dobby, I know where Harry Potter is!"

"I is coming Master Aberforth!" he gave me a fleeting hug and scrambled into the portrait, taking Ariana's hand.

"Enough with the 'Master' stuff, Dobby. I'm not your Master!" growled Aberforth.

"Sorry, sir!"

I chuckled, then got nervous.

"Neville, you think he'll be okay? You- you know my family and, well, they can be really, um...brutal."

He gave me a squeeze. "I don't know Han. I hope so, but you have a point."

When he saw the look on my face though, he said, "But, I bet he'll be fine, right?"

"You suck at lying."

"No I don't! You just know how to tell when someone _is _."

He kissed me on the cheek and said, "Look, I gotta go. A first-year's being tortured, his name's Charlie, and I have a feeling that he's gonna be a victim of the Cruciatis Curse soon. I'm going to go offer him protection."

I smiled weakly, "You go do that. Bye."

* * * * * * *


	4. Something Worth Fighting For

I sat waiting for little Charlie and Neville to come back. Well, Neville came back, but he was empty-handed. There were no kids with him. He was tortured a bit, so we laid him down on the hammock and mopped him up.

"Turns out that that whole Charlie thing wasn't real. That kid was the nephew of the Carrows. A different kid named Tommy helped me get away; the Carrows would have literally killed me."

"So where's Tommy now?" I asked, "Neville, that kid's gonna be killed! Where is he?"

"He won't be killed." Neville growled darkly.

"Why not?! That kid is gonna be used as bait! I know he will."

Neville mumbled something that sounded like "Maybe his body."

"Wha- Neville, they didn't!"

"He's not going to be killed. It's already been done. Tommy's dead." he whispered.

I started to cry silently.

"But-but that means that the Carrows'll be kicked out, right? I mean, they just killed a kid! ...Right?"

Neville sighed. "No, Hannah, it doesn't. Remember Jason?"

"I thought that he ran away? I mean, I would too, he made them really angry." I said, trying not to believe it. He was a boy in my year, but old for the year, so he was 14, but he was a really nice kid. We were partners in Herbology, and he would always goof off, sometimes making the plants bite, or spit fire or whatever else they did. He was a half-blood, but he wore Muggle clothes whenever possible. (a baggy red T-shirt, baggy jeans, sneakers and a Chudley Cannons hat) He was a prankster, but one day he went too far. He almost let out all the Acromantulas to scare the Carrows, but they went for him instead. The only good thing (in my opinion) about Snape is that he got Jason out of that mess.

Then he disappeared.

"Yeah, Hannah, I thought so too, 'till about a week ago. Look what I found." Neville pulled something from the breast pocket of his robes, but I was afraid to look.

"Oh, Han, it's not _that _bad."

I peeked at the yellow thing in Neville's hand. It was a Chudley Cannons hat with a hole in it. Around the hole was dried blood. Violet, Jason's old girlfriend, stared at it for a minute, silent, then ran to her hammock and wailed.

"He- he was stabbed through the head. They wanted to hurt him while killing him." Neville's voice cracked and shook.

"Not even 'Avada?' They didn't even have the decency to do 'Avada Kedavra?'" I whispered, still staring at the bloody hat.

"Well, his body has a hole through his head." said Neville

"Well...well...um...so does George! And he's not dead!" I cried triumphantly

"Hannah, it's not the same. It- it went right through his b-b-brain."

All the girls shrieked, and many cried, and most of the boys gasped or grimaced.

Then, a ghost with a hole in his head floated in through the wall.

"Vi! Vi, stop crying! I'm dead, but I'm right here!" he said gently to the sobbing third year.

Violet looked up at him with her tear-streaked face, then sobbed harder. Jason rolled his eyes.

"Jason?" I asked, "I didn't think you'd be a ghost. You're pretty adventurous."

"I couldn't die forever knowing that my killers were still out there! Besides, I wasn't the first. There was Tammy, Johnny, Parker, Alex, Lizzie..."

He rattled on with the names of the dead children, and I felt my anger boil over.

"STOP!!!" I screamed. Jason stopped, surprised.

"Sorry Hannah. I didn't know you were so upset about it." he muttered.

"I'm not sad, I'm _angry_. Well, I'm sad, but c'mon people! This is Dumbledore's Army! What is this great group doing? Less than the Order of the Phoenix, and that's saying something! I mean, really. When did the pranks stop? The jokes? The gags? I don't get it!"

"Hannah, you git, they stopped when people were getting _killed_." shouted Seamus.

"Don't you call her a git!" said Neville.

"Neville, it's fine. He was kidding. But still, people are being tortured! I've gone out there, and I'm seeing little first-years who aren't recognizable! First-years! I ran into a kid I've known for years yesterday, and I had no idea who he was until he asked me if I was a ghost! He said I was his hero, but that he couldn't get protection 'cause of his parents being Ministry officials! Some hero! What are we doing to earn their respect? Hiding? That's _really _brave."

"We're not all Gryffindors, so sorry!" shouted Terry Boot, a Ravenclaw.

"I shall fight and be brave," said Ernie McMillan, the mini-Percy. "My Patronus is a boar, a strong animal with long horns and a-"

"Well, the last person who was really brave was Neville, and a kid died in the attempt." said Parvati Patil, interrupting Ernie. "That kid happened to be our cousin." She pointed to Padma, her twin sister.

"I'm really sorry about that. And on that note, who has family or friends who were killed, or had something done to them by Voldemort" (Everyone flinched) "or his supporters?"

Many people raised their hands, and Hannah Abbott squeaked "My... my mum was killed last year by Death Eaters."

Seamus shouted angrily "Dean's my best mate, and I don't bloody well know if he's even alive, all because he's Muggle-born!"

"Tommy." whispered the Patils.

"My parents." I said angrily,"Were tortured by Bellatrix Lastrange, a Death Eater, and my _Aunt_, then killed right before my very eyes. I was 8. My brother was subjected to the Cruciatis Curse until he was rendered insane. I visit him when I can at St. Mungo's."

Everyone was quiet, then Neville said "And my I live with my Gran because my parents are insane too. They share a ward with Eric, her brother."

"So, don't you want to avenge them? Look at us! We're survivors, but we're acting like a bunch of paranoid Mad-Eyes. We're awesome, we're bloody brilliant, we're heros, but we're broken. People are _dying_! You're probably all scared; I am too. But did that stop Harry? Or his parents? Or our relatives? Or Dumbledore? No! They kept on fighting! Harry will keep on fighting until his wand is pried from his cold, dead hands, or until Voldemort is destroyed! I will too. Who's with me!?"

"I'm in." said Neville.

"Me too." said Seamus.

"Us too." said the Patils.

"For Mum!" cried Hannah Abbott.

"For Dean."

"For Tommy."

"(hic) F-for Jason." Violet hadn't talked at all, so it was surprising. Jason floated to her and put his arm around her.

"For Mum and Dad."

"For Mum, Dad and Eric. For Ted Tonks, my relative, and all the other countless, nameless victims of Voldemort's wrath."

Everyone looked at me and I said "They died fighting Voldemort. They deserve our respect too."

Then, all together, we shouted "For Dumbledore!" We scattered, making battle plans and, unknown to anyone else, I whispered "For Uncle Rudolph."


	5. Not 13

Soon we were walking down Ariana's portrait hole, just Neville and I. Harry was back. Of course that meant that Ron and Hermione, two of my best friends were coming too. And, if he had found them, Dobby. The Weasleys were coming soon. They were my favorite family, except, of course, Perfect-Prefect-Percy-the-Prat. I was excited to see the twins a lot. Although... I was going to have to pay up for their stuff. Maybe I _wasn't _soexcited.

Anyway, I took Neville's hand and jumped out of the hole. I twisted something and hopped around like a doofus.

"Has Hannah gone completely mad? Guess I shouldn't be surprised. Mental, that one is." I heard Ron say.

"Hi, Ron, Harry, and Hermione! You guys okay? Hey," I said, craning my neck over their heads to see something, "where's Dobby? Or didn't he find you?"

"_You _know Dobby? How?" asked Harry.

"Um, I've _lived _with the Malfoys for my whole life."

"Right."

"So where is he?" I said, dropping into the hole.

"Hannah, he's, well he's, dead."

I sighed. I had really loved Dobby, but I'd promised myself that I wasn't crying anymore. "Bellatrix?"

"Of course."

We got back to the Come-and-Go-Room, talking about how horrible Hogwarts was now.

"At least I have another few years here. For you guys, it's your last year." I said.

We talked and I told the Trio about all the tortures and the deaths.

"Jason Willis? He's... dead?" gasped Hermione.

"Yup." I said sadly.

"And Tommy Patil? And Lizzie Rodriguez? And Alex Mayweather? And Tammy and Johnny Lee?"

"Uh-huh. All dead."

"I refuse to believe it."

"Well, it's true, Hermione. Sorry. I couldn't believe it at first either. But Jason's body and ghost are at the Room of Requirement."

We got there, and Neville and I were nearly suffocated from all the people trying to get to the Trio.

"Bubbleiato!" I shrieked, using the Bubble-Head Charm so that I could breathe.

People started coming from everywhere imaginable. The twins and Lee Jordan first, (I bounced off of them when I tried to hug them, due to the large bubble on my head.) then Bill and Fleur, then Viktor Krum, Cho Chang, Luna Lovegood, Ginny Weasley, and more.

"Let's fight!" I said.

"Wait Hannah, slow down." Neville grabbed my shoulders, "You're underage. You won't be fighting tonight. So calm down and get on the train that's coming for those who aren't yet 17."

"I'm 15, Mr. Longbottom, I think I can make my own decisions!"

"You don't have a choice. McGonagall won't let you."

"I don't care. I'll sneak in if I have to."

"_I _won't let you. Hannah, I love you. I can't lose you, and I know your Aunt'll be out there. She'd do _anything _to hurt me, and she's low enough to take you hostage, or _kill _you. And she has no great love for you, either. Death Eaters will be swarming the place, and one of their targets will be you. They'll kill you in a second, a heartbeat, without flinching, not even blink and sleep fine tonight. That won't happen tonight, I swear. I-"

Then he spotted Ron, who looked appalled. "Er, the fight's starting. Do you two need privacy?"

"Yes, Ronald, we do." said Neville angrily, rolling his eyes.

"Yeah, so, um... sorry, I'll, um, go...er... bye!"

Then we heard a shrill voice scream "Won-Won!" and Ron saying "Gerrof me, Lavender! I'm dating Hermione now! GET OFF!"

I sighed. "Muffliato."'

"Anyway. You're getting on that train. I won't let anyone touch you, you understand?"

"I cannot stand by and sit on a train while you get hurt! I need to know what's going on! I need to know who's dead, who's alive, who's mutilated, who's turned to a Death Eater and who I want to kill most, even though we both know that it's probably my Aunt! And whose to say that the train's safer anyway? Death Eaters could attack it at any minute!"

"Hannah, calm down. Everything's gonna be okay. You'll see. I promise."

"No it won't! You can't promise that! I'm not 13 anymore, Neville! People will die! You can't just smile and say, 'Oh, Han, everything'll be fine!' Because it won't! It just won't!"

I pounded on his chest and sobbed. My face was tear-streaked. He stroked my hair and put his chin on my head.

"I'm not 13." I whispered.

"No, I don't suppose you are, are you?"

Then he kissed me. I was so shocked that I don't really remember it that well, but I was suddenly very, very happy.

He smiled. "Look." he said, "Ginny's staying up in the tower. Just stay with her, 'kay?"

"Sure." I said, still in shock.


	6. Meeting The Realatives

"Hey, Hannah. Been told to stay here and be good too? Keep your nose clean, head down and all that?" Ginny snorted.

"Uh-huh." I stared at the stars.

"Okay, what happened? Start talking."

"What do you mean?"

"Hannah, you are staring out into space. You _never _do that. So I ask again. What happened?"

"I still don't really know." I babbled. "I_ think _that Neville just kissed me, but I'm not sure."

"Oh, yeah, he did! That's how I felt with Harry. All confused, but really happy. Ron _said_ that you've been all goo-goo eyes to him since you first met! He also said that you two were being 'all gooey and lovey-dovey.' Boys! Honestly."

"He said_ what_!?" I snapped back to the real world.

She tried to smile. "Sorry."

"Let's get out of here. I need to see Neville, and I doubt that Harry's shoved far in the back of your mind."

The doors were locked, but a simple bellow of "Alohamora!" did the trick.

We ran out of the castle, almost knocking into Mrs. Longbottom, Neville's Gran.

"Um, hello Mrs. Longbottom, I'm-"

"-a Malfoy, or a Lastrange." she interrupted, and said to my surprised face, "Yes, I can tell. You know what your Aunt, or mother, or whatever did to my son and his wife, and you are probably proud."

"Oh, I was going to say 'sorry.' But I hate my Aunt. I'm Hannah Malfoy, Neville's friend."

"Ah, yes, sorry dear. I've heard about you. Neville speaks quite highly of you at home. He cares for you very much. Did you know?"

"No." I lied as not to intimidate her, though I was soon to find out that she wasn't easily intimidated. I should have known, seeing as she escaped the Aurors and Death Eaters. "No, I didn't."

"Did you two kiss?" she snapped, right to the point.

"Er..."

She glared at me, throwing me daggers through her eyes.

"I know you have, and listen to me now. He's tough, my grandson, but he's just 17. You're his first real girlfriend. Don't you _dare_ hurt him, or you'll hear from me. Got it?"

"Yes, ma'am." I squeaked.

*****


	7. A Hero's Death

"AVADA KEDAVRA!!!"

"CRUCIO!!!"

"IMPERIO!!!"

"SECTUMSEMPERA!!!"

"PETRIFICUS TOTALUS!!!"

"IMPEDIMENTA!!!"

"LEVICORPUS!!!"

Nasty spells whizzed around me like bullets, ricocheting off of walls and making people suffer horribly. I dodged, jumped, ducked and somersaulted past them, occasionally being hit with "Crucio!" or "Levicorpus!" or something like that, struggling for a moment, trying to stop the pain, or trying to unclench the invisible force holding my ankle up in the air. Then,

"FRED! NO!"

My head whipped around as I saw one of my three closest friends, more than Harry, Ron or even Hermione, perhaps, fall into the mud.

He took a hundred years for him to fall, or so it seemed, his fiery-red hair flying behind him, his mouth still laughing, brown and green speckled eyes still smiling, seeing nothing anymore. He fell with a dull _"thud" _that may have well shaken the whole world; it had destroyed mine.

A scream tried to form, but it couldn't escape my lips. I felt my legs pumping, but I wasn't getting any closer to him. I saw the family sobbing, and Percy, who had betrayed them all, only to come see sense moments before, jump on Fred and sob.

I realized that I was wearing my Weasley sweater. It was keeping me warm and close, and it smelled of the Burrow. Was I family? Not really, but they were pretty close. They were the best family I had ever had. Did I have permission to go over there and cry? Would that be appropriate to wail with the family as if he were my own brother?

My grief suddenly turned to anger. Fred didn't deserve that. Not his cries for forgiveness, nor his wails of repent. He didn't deserve his brother clinging to his body like a leech. Percy had turned back, but it was too late.

_No it isn't! _my mind told me, _This is the legendary Fred Weasley we're talking about! He'll be popping up any moment now, grinning ear to ear, saying to Percy 'You git, I'm not dead! I wouldn't go so soon!' and then to George 'Now __**I'm **__the "holy" one, right?' C'mon, pop up!_

But in my heart, I knew that a hero had just died. Fred Weasley was dead. He wouldn't pop up and laugh. He couldn't. His last laugh had died with him. I turned away, not able to face the scene any longer. I heard a woman cackle in the distance. My Aunt. I vowed that by sunrise, she would be dead.

_***** _


	8. So, Who's Died?

I just ran. I hated working out; I was the nerdy kid jogging 12 yards in back of the kid with the broken foot. But it made me stop thinking about Fred's death. Fred's death. I never thought that I would say those two words in the same sentence. Not until he was about 80 or so.

I saw Nymphadora Tonks, my cousin, battling a masked Death Eater side by side with her husband, Remus Lupin. I saw a crouched, hunchbacked figure approaching them. He smelled of blood and looked wolfish. Fenrir Grayback.

"Look out! Lupin, Tonks, behind you!" I shrieked.

Lupin turned and saw another Death Eater and, thinking I was talking about that one, cried "Impedimenta!"

"No!" I screamed.

Grayback suddenly lunged and bit Lupin's back. He fell, blood flowing from his shoulder blades. Grayback ripped and slashed, as Lupin lay bleeding, breath raspy.

"Remus!" screamed Tonks. "No!"

Then Grayback killed her too. She fell on top of Lupin, and their hand entwined in their last breaths. Then they died, hand in hand. Grayback looked like he was about to eat Tonks, then I remembered who I was. I could control this cannibalistic oaf.

"Grayback!" I screeched. "Leave that blood traitor alone! We have fresher meat for you, with softer skin and cleaner blood! Now come, the Dark Lord wants you."

"M-me, Miss Malfoy?" he grumbled, staring at Tonks with longing, but interested in me too, "He wants me? But wait, aren't you the blood traitor of the family?"

"Don't you dare speak to me like that! I have seen the errors of my ways! I am proud to be a Malfoy, a noble pure blood. A family that has been imagining the Dark Lord's aims for generations! Now come, he awaits. Wait near the Whomping Willow while I dispose of this scum."

"Of course, Miss Malfoy, I'm sorry to have doubted you. I shall wait." he lumbered to the tree, now whacking friend and foe in every direction.

Despite everything that had happened, I grinned. Remus Lupin would be avenged in the sweetest of ways. His enemy, Fenrir Grayback, would be destroyed at the Whomping Willow, in the Shrieking Shack, where Lupin was confined as both a teacher and a child, his prison, caused by the man who would die in there. Plus, I had done a bloody good acting job.

I carried Tonks and Lupin, dragging them to the Great Hall, setting their bodies together. I closed their eyes and mouths, and made them look like they were smiling peacefully in their sleep. Their hands were still entwined.

I stared at them for a moment. I hated Grayback. I was ready to kill him, even if it was in cold-blood, wand vs. teeth. And claws. And an instinct to kill.

I led him in the Shrieking Shack. It was quick, painless and more than he deserved. I left the room, unnerved. I had just killed somebody. _Killed _somebody. Not an ant on the street, but a person.

I ran around, looking for Neville. I had just seen three of my mentors, my friends, die, and I had to see if Neville was...

_No, _I thought, watching people fall, _No, no, no, no, no, no! He's okay! _Then I saw Colin Creevey fall, shrivel up, and die. That's when I totally lost it. If _Colin Creevey _was dead, who's to say that Neville wasn't?

"Mrs. Longbottom!" I said, spotting her, "Where's Neville? I can't find him! A-and Tonks-s-s a-an L-Lupin and C-Colin and F-F-_Fred! FRED! _And, I can't take it, I can't! I can't do it! If I l-lose Neville then-then-then... I don't know, I just don't!" I started sobbing on the old woman.

"I don't know. I can't find him either. It's okay though, I suppose. It would have been very advertised if he died. He brought hope, and that's all we're clinging onto right now. But Remus is dead? And Fred Weasley? And Nymphadora?" she obviously was disgruntled.

"Tonks. My cousin preferred her surname."

"Yes, well. But Mr. Weasley was very young, only 19, perhaps 20, am I correct?"

"Mmhmm." I mumbled, wiping my eyes, drying them. "I think so."

"Heros die young." she sighed.

I started crying again. "Neville's a hero!" I wailed, "S-sorry. L-look at me!" I said, trying to smile, "I'm worse then Myrtle!"

"Yes, you are. I'm sorry I doubted you. I really am. Go find Neville, okay?"

"Yeah." I sniffed

Then I heard a croak and I saw Trevor on the ground. _Trevor!_ I couldn't believe he was still alive. I pocketed him.

I did find him. (Thank God) He said that he had just been given a mission from Harry. He asked who had died.

Tears brimmed in my eyes. "T-Tonks, Lupin, Colin, Grayback and... F-F-Fred. I saw all of them. And I think C-Crabbe or G-Goyle. "

"Yeah, I knew about Colin. Remus and Tonks... wow, I never thought that they'd go. Who finished them?" he asked sadly.

"Grayback." I snarled.

"And who finished Grayback?"

"Me. In the Shrieking Shack. I-I couldn't help it. I pretended to have turned, and said that Voldemort wanted him. He-he believed me and I 'Avada Kedavra'd' him. I feel bad about it. I wish I hadn't done it."

"Yeah, you lost your innocence. Darn it, that made you cute. Anyway, who else died? I didn't hear the last name."

I shook my head.

"Well, okay. That can't be good that you won't say. Anyway, guess who I found?" he pulled something fluffy and orange out of his pocket.

"Ollie!" I picked him up and put him in the bag I had with.

"Thanks! And I found Fred, I mean Trevor!" I took him out.

"Trevor! Wait, did you say Fred? He- he wasn't the one who died, right?"

"Actually, he was. Fred's dead. K-killed by my Aunt."

Neville looked ready to kill. He clenched his fists. "Not Fred! _Fred._ Blimey, Hannah, why didn't you kill_ her_?"

"I didn't exactly say, 'Hey, today I will kill Fenrir Grayback. I shall not kill my Aunt.' It was instinct!" I snapped.

"Sorry."

Then Harry was brought out. Dead.

"NO!!!" cried Ginny.


	9. According To Plan

Everyone yelled and screamed, then were silenced by Voldemort.

Someone ran out on the platform Voldemort was on. It was Neville. Voldemort offered him a Death Eater post, at which Neville said "I'll join you when Hell freezes over! Dumbledore's Army!"

Then, the Dark Lord set the Sorting Hat aflame, rooted Neville to the spot and shoved the Hat on his head.

"NEVILLE!!!" I screamed, but Ron and Hermione restrained me from running up there too. I heard Neville's screams and tried to wash them out, but all I could do was scream his name... I had to move... I had to save him! He wouldn't be another Jason. "NO! NEVILLE, NO! STOP IT! STOP IT, PLEASE! STOP! NO! NEVILLE!" Tears streamed down my face.

"Who is this, Bella, that I hear screaming?" asked Voldemort.

"Why, it's my niece, my Lord." she cackled. "The blood traitor!"

"Why don't we prove another point, shall we?"

"Oh, yes. We should, my Lord!" she shrieked gleefully.

George, who was next to me, put an arm around me protectively. He stepped in front of me, jaw squared. I could tell that Fred's death had cut him deeply.

Then Harry came back to life and did something that I couldn't see. Then Neville broke free, took the Hat off of his head and dispensed a sword from it's depths, then cut off Nagini's head, Voldemort's enormous snake.

I ran to my Aunt, seeing her figure, high mighty and proud, striding past. I raised my wand to strike when I was knocked over.

"OUT OF MY WAY!!! OUT OF MY WAY, SHE IS MINE!!!" screeched... Mrs. Weasley?!

"Stop! Stop Mrs. Weasley, STOP! You don't know her! You'll be killed!" I screamed. Mrs. Weasley was like my mother for that summer that I stayed with them. She wasn't going to die tonight. She couldn't. I ran after her, but was stopped.

"Look." said a low voice. "She's my Mum, _I'll_ try to stop her. But Fred just died; I doubt she _can _be stopped. Mum's like a hurricane. How _did_ you and Ginny get in? You're underage!"

I looked up and saw the mangled face of Bill Weasley, smiling at me sadly.

"Er..."

"MUM! Mum, quit it! She's not worth it!" yelled Bill.

"NOT MY DAUGHTER YOU BITCH!!!"

"She can't be stopped." Bill confirmed. "Not if Ginny's involved somehow."

"But I want to kill her! Or Neville! But I never expected _this_!"

But Mrs. Weasley was tougher then I thought, and a moment later Auntie Bella lay dead on the ground.

"Wow."

That's all I could say as Mrs. Weasley dusted off her skirt, shot my aunt a look and hobbled away.

"Say hello to Uncle Rudolph for me, 'kay Bella?" I said, kicking my Aunt's body.

"NO!" screamed Voldemort. Things were not going according to plan for him.

Then Voldemort was killed. It was epic, because it was mostly words and a simple _Expelliarmus! _

Neville and I walked to the Great Hall, where all the bodies were. We sat down and listened to the chaos.

_We did it, we bashed them_

_Wee Potty's the one,_

_And Voldy's gone moldy,_

_So let's have some fun!_

We heard Peeves sing and Ron joke "Really brings out the whole scope and tragedy of the thing, huh?"

I wasn't serious or anything, but we needed a laugh. I mean, really, now that Fred was gone, his twin wasn't liable to laugh anytime soon.

I put my head on his shoulders. Girls swooned around him and batted their lashes.

I cleared my throat. "Hello there."

Some stupid girl pushed me away from Neville. I jinxed her and went to find Draco.


	10. Family

The Malfoys were huddled together in a heap. I tried to talk, but they said nothing, so I shrugged and went away. I never saw Narcissa or Lucius again. Draco, though, he was the perfect cousin suddenly. He must have felt badly, or something. He even married a Gryffindor. He married Romilda Vane, and they had a kid named Scorpius.

Meanwhile, I dropped out of Hogwarts to take care of George, along with Angelina Johnson, his wife. When he got married he was happy again, but it wasn't for long, and soon he sunk into a deep depression. It was hard to keep him happy, but eventually he was back to normal.

Angelina tried to pay me, but I wouldn't let her,

"We're friends. You would have done the same."

But I asked to stay with them, as I had nowhere else to go, being 16. I wasn't allowed back by McGonagall, who sighed and told me that, by law, if you drop out, then you're not allowed back in.

"I'm very sorry, Ms. Malfoy. It's just the way it is." she sighed.

On my 18th birthday, I got a letter from Neville. I was surprised. He was an Auror, and he didn't want to keep contact in case a former Death Eater hurt or kidnapped me to hurt him.

I opened the envelope and pulled out the letter.

_Dear Hannah,_

_It's me, Neville. Do you still remember me? I'm retiring from being an Auror and switching to teaching Herbology at Hogwarts. I'm really happy with my new post. I'm coming home soon, so I'll stop by the joke shop. Then you can answer my question._

_Love, _

_Neville L._

_P.S. Shake the envelope._

Neville was coming home! I was excited. But what was the question all about? I shook the envelope and a silver band with a small stone fell out. I picked it up, and attached to it was a note that said: _Will you marry me?_

I grinned from ear to ear and screamed "George! Angelina! Come here!"

"What? Is something wrong?" asked George, wide eyed. He held his wand at the ready.

"Look!" I shoved the letter and the ring in their arms and they read the letter.

"Wow! Well, here, borrow my owl, Athena." said Angelina, "Go on, tell everyone! That's a big deal!"

I owled everyone. They were all excited.

_Dear Hannah,_

_-Congratulations! I knew it! I just knew it! Hey, it must be a good day for marriages! Ron just proposed and Ginny just was proposed to by Harry, and-_

_-Hermione, Harry proposed to __me__, I wanted to tell her! Anyway, congrats! _

_-Did you tell her yet?_

_-Yes, Ron, I did._

_-Good, congratulations! _

_-Hey, it's me, Harry! Congratulations! You know, I proposed to Ginny, and Ron proposed to Hermione today!_

_-Harry, honey, read the letter before you say something, okay?_

_-Yes, dear._

_-Arthur and I are thrilled, of course, but you __**are **__a bit young. Don't be hasty._

_-Mum, you thought that Fleur and I were being hasty, and she's expecting! So lay off, okay?_

_-Expecting!? I'm your mother! Am I the last to know? I should be the first! _

_-Yeah, Mum, you are. Hermione told me it's going to a girl. You're gonna have a granddaughter! _

_-You stay out of this, Ronald Bilius Weasley! Stay out of this! _

_-MUM! I'm an adult! I'm getting married! _

_-WHAT!? _

-_I am too, Mrs. Weasley. I'm marrying Ginny._

_-Mrs. Weasley, I thought that Ron told you!_

_-No, Hermione, he didn't!_

_-Charlie says "Bye" and "Congrats" before this gets out of hand._

_From, _

_The Weasley Gang _

I chuckled at the usual Weasley mayhem.


	11. A Happy Sappy Ending

Then it sunk in. I was marrying Neville!

He came in a few days later. I sprang into his arms, kissed him and said "Yes! Yes yes yes yes yes yes! YES!"

_Thirteen Years Later_

"Honey! Freddy, quit it!" my small son pulled on my sleeves.

"But Momma! Why aren't you coming too?" asked Fred.

"Hon, you'll see me soon. But teachers have to go in a different compartment. Dad'll meet you there. I'll be with him. I'll see you in Defense Against the Dark Arts. Dad'll see you in Herbology."

"Fred!"

Fred stopped whining immediately.

"Fred!"

"How are you, cuz?"

"Good, you?"

"Doing fine, Jr."

"'Cuz?'" I said to George.

"Yeah." said George, shoving his hands in his pockets, "They're kinda under the impression that they're related."

"Your Fred's 13!"

"Well he knows but, you know," he said sheepishly.

"It's okay, I think it's sweet. I guess we're kinda related; he _is _my godson."

"Hey Hannah."

"Hey Angelina. How's it going?"

"Good, thanks. You?"

"Great. Neville, Fred and I couldn't be happier. Oh, it's half-past! I'd better get on. Teachers need to register. Freddy, time to go!"

"AARRGGHH! Mum! Don't call me Freddy! It's embarrassing! And can I stay with Uncle George and Aunt Angie?"

"Sure. See you in a half an hour. You're gonna be okay? You won't cry? Or give them a hard time?" I teased.

"Mum! Stop it!"

"Okay. Fine. Say hi to Uncle Draco and Scorpius to me. Aunt Romilda too, I guess."

As I walked through the platform, I heard my godson say "You were _crying_?"

I laughed. I saw my husband when I boarded the train. "Hey sweetie." I said.

"Hey. Got some candy." he handed me a Chocolate Frog. I opened it and found Neville's 17 year-old face beaming up at me.

"Look who I got." I laughed.

"I got you!" said Neville.

I giggled when I saw myself. I was a petite, skinny girl with a thin, pale face and overlarge eyes. I had straight brown hair down to my shoulders.

"What did you see in me?"

"A lot."

The End

**I'm done! Done, wow. Never thought I'd say that! **

**Hey, I know it's kinda sappy, but I love it. And about the *'s, I wanted to do them at the end of the story. So, um, yeah. If you remember what these stars mean, great! If not, they are littered throughout the story. They are just my opinions, so if you don't care about that, it's fine with me! But I**_** do**_** care when people don't review! So click that button and tell me what you think. (Go on, press it! It isn't hard!)**

***Recognize that line from #5, Order of the Phoenix? She says it to Grawp.**

** **No, it doesn't. I am one! :)**

*****I'm actually a minor Snape fan, but my character doesn't like him.**


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